Participants in the Israel Experience launched rafts on the Sea of Galilee
photo credit: Israel Sun

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Thousands of Jewish youngsters from all over the world, who are visiting Israel within the context of the Jewish Agency's "Israel Experience" program this summer, gathered in Jerusalem today for the special event "My Israel." The producers emphasized that this was not just a day of fun, but a true educational program that culminated in an historic performance that sums up the Israel Experience.

The Jewish youngsters played the part of spies who had come on a mission to scout out Israel in the year 2000, in the spirit of the spies sent by Joshua Bin Nun when the Jews ended their wanderings in the desert. Jewish tradition was portrayed by means of a reconstruction of the shtet'l in Eastern Europe with the aid of klezmer and dance troupes. Actors playing the parts of pioneers in the early aliyah periods thus providing a picture of settlement activity; the defense system was portrayed by IDF soldiers; hi-tech and industry were portrayed by an actor in the guise of Albert Einstein, and actors dressed in the traditional garb of ethnic groups portrayed the fabric of contemporary Israeli society.

At the end of the tour, the youngsters attended an Information and Education Fair organized by the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Movement. Seventeen academic institutions from all over the country presented the youngsters with absorption opportunities available at educational and academic institutions.

In the evening the youngsters made their way in a colorful parade through Jerusalem from the Sherover Promenade to the Ben Hinnom Valley, where they were addressed by Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, Jerusalem Mayor, Ehud Olmert and Director General of the JAFI Jewish Zionist Education Department, Alan Hoffman.

There has been a 6% increase this year in the number of youngsters coming to Israel on the "Israel Experience" program. This year a total of 16,000 teenagers will have participated in this program, 10,500 of whom came during the summer months. Winter participants come mainly from South America and Australia, as well as some students from North America. Several hundred students participate in long-term educational programs.

A number of Israel Experience groups, among them 400 members of Hanoar Hatzioni from all over the world, this week crossed Lake Kinneret on 19 rafts which they had built themselves. The youngsters, from England, Belgium, Latin America as well as from Israel, competed for the prize of "best raft".

1,800 children from Confrontation Line communities, of bar-and bat-mitzvah age, will be hosted at the beginning of next week at Rishon Lezion's "Superland" amusement park. The program has been organized by the Jewish Agency and municipality of Rishon Lezion, as part of the Jewish Agency's efforts to assist residents of the northern border communtities adjust to the new reality in their area. The Jewish Agency has invested more than NIS 3 million in summer activities for the Confrontation Line communities, which will benefit more than 10,000 children and teenagers.

In the morning, the children from the following communities will be bussed to Superland: Kiryat Shmona, Metullah, Shlomi, Ma'alot, Nahariya and the regional councils of Maaleh Yosef, Mateh Asher, Mevo'ot Hermon and Merom Hagalil in the Upper Galilee. Afterwards they will attend a performance by the Eden band, Children's Channel star Tal Mann, singer Erez Ben Harush and the "Kol Rishon" youth band.

The Jewish Agency's summer activities for children from the confrontation line communities are supported by the Jewish communities of North America and Keren Hayesod. They include the organization and support of day camps, educational and enrichment activities throughout the area and the funding of day camps for children from under privileged families. The program also includes the organization and support of cultural events in all northern border communities.

The day-camp activities in this area, supported by the Jewish Agency, include enrichment activities in life sciences, computer sciences, programs on astronomy, logic, sports and music, a camp for special needs children and a day camp for children who are hospitalized at the Nahariyah hospital.

The family of Ilan Erenstein, a new immigrant currently serving in an IDF combat unit, is impatiently waiting to see their son on Sunday. They have not seen him for three years. The meeting between the soldier and his family, who live in Moscow, will not be in person, but via satellite. The meeting will mark a decade since the establishment of the Jewish Agency's Moscow youth club, where Ilan was a prominent member.

Dozens of Jewish youth in Russia and their friends in Israel will mark a decade since the opening of the youth club. The meeting between the youngsters will take place via direct satellite broadcast from the Renaissance Hotel in Moscow to the International Conference Center (Binyanei Ha'ooma) in Jerusalem. The event is being organized by the Jewish Agency's Education Department with the assistance of director Amos Ettinger.

"This is one of the Jewish Agency's first and largest clubs in the former Soviet Union," said Yehudit Yankilevitz, the Agency's youth and student emissary in Moscow. "We have 15 on-going groups which bring together dozens of youngsters on common issues such as: history of the Jewish people, the Holocaust, Jewish festivals, theater, folk dancing and others. The summer and winter camps are the highlight of the club's activities, when hundreds of Jewish youngsters share a Jewish-Zionist experience," said Yankilevitz.

The Jewish Agency's first emissaries to the former Soviet Union who together established the club, included Yosef Tropiansky, Shlomo Balsam and Theo Kaminer, and they will talk about the club's beginnings. Club members and youth leaders, including those who have already made aliyah, will share their memories and experiences of club activities over the last decade.

Others attending the event include Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, who formerly served as the head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Moscow; Alla Levy - head of the Jewish Agency delegation in North America who this week completed her tour of duty in Russia; Karol Ungar, incoming head of the Russian delegation; and Amos Lahat - head of the Jewish Agency's former Soviet Union department. Guest of honor will be MK Eliezer (Cheetah) Cohen, who last year visited the Jewish Agency's summer camps in Russia and was impressed by the club's Jewish youth activity.

Over the last decade more than 5,000 youngsters have taken part in club activities and many of them have made aliyah within the context of the Jewish Agency's youth programs. Some 250 Jewish youngsters from Moscow and adjacent towns currently meet at the club each week.

• 40 school-age children, all patients at the Soroka Medical Center Oncology Department in Beersheva, spent a week at the Jewish Agency's Nitzana Youth Village in the Negev. The program, sponsored by the Rashi Foundation, enabled the children to enjoy a science and fun-filled week-long summer camp experience.

• 1,700 young adult new immigrants will participate in the Jewish Agency's ROM program in 2000. This program prepares students for university entrance exams and includes studies in English and mathematics.

• 1,183 new immigrants arrived in Israel this week. Of these, 989 made aliyah from the Former Soviet Union. The rest came from France, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, England, Venezuela, South Africa, Turkey, Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Germany, Canada, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, and India.

• $60,000 has been allocated by the Jewish Agency for the year 2000 to a special program run by the World Union for Progressive Judaism: "To Learn In Order to Do - Open Beit Midrash." Two Beit Midrash centers, one in Jerusalem and one in Tel Aviv, offer a liberal alternative for secular and religious adults seeking to study Jewish sources. The program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of classical and modern Jewish texts.

• $10,000 has been allocated by the Jewish Agency to Beit Uri for a program to develop environmental awareness among a group of handicapped and able-bodied children who work together clearing and marking a forest and park area. The project allows the handicapped children to contribute to the community and learn simple vocational skills, facilitates joint social activities between the two groups of children and encourages environmental awareness.

• $12,000 has been allocated by the Jewish Agency to the Lilach Association for its program, The Nest. This mobilizes and trains Jewish and Arab women to work, on a voluntary basis, with mothers in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

Next week the annual Jewish youth summer camp "Ramah Yahad," run jointly by the Jewish Agency and the Conservative Movement's Midreshet Yerushalayim, will open in western Ukraine in the town of Dobrinzi. 130 Jewish youngsters from Lvov, Chernowitz, Uzgorod, Host, Mokchavo and other towns in the Carpathian mountains area, will attend the week-long camp.

Boris Makhtiyuk, head of the Jewish Agency's delegation in Lvov, reports that the youngsters participating in the camp, are for the most part, students from the Sunday schools in Ukraine run by the Midreshet Yerushalayim. The counselors at the camp are Israelis who were trained by the Jewish Agency's Education Department.

During the camp, the youngsters will tour western Ukraine, which is well known for its rich Jewish history. They will visit synagogues and ancient sites of Jewish interest and will meet with the elderly members of the Jewish communities in order to learn about Jewish life in the area before the Soviet era. Jewish Agency counselors will give lectures on Jewish tradition and the modern State of Israel. They will hold beginner's classes in Hebrew.

Makhtiyuk said that this is the eighth year of the "Ramah Yahad" sumer camp. He added that recently cooperation between the Jewish Agency and representatives of the Conservative Movement in the area has increased: "The program's success is reflected in the fact that many of those who first came to the camp as children, have with time become local youth leaders, and then made aliyah. Now they are coming back as Israeli counselors and present Israel to the youngsters with whom they grew up."

According to figures provided by the Jewish Agency's former Soviet Union Department, there are currently some 10,000 Jews living in western Ukraine, 3,000 of whom are in Lvov. The Jewish Agency delegation in the city, also operates in 8 satellite towns in the region, with the help of 11 local aliyah coordinators. Close to 800 students attend the Jewish Agency's 13 ulpans. The Jewish Agency also runs 8 youth clubs attended by 320 youngsters each week. Since the beginning of the year, 500 new immigrants have arrived in Israel from western Ukraine.

Last week a unique summer camp opened in Kharkov, Ukraine, for university students of Jewish studies. The camp, run as a summer school, was organized by the Jewish Agency together with the JDC and "Sefer" - the Moscow Center for the Academic Teaching of Jewish Studies.

Meron Lahat, head of the Jewish Agency's Kharkov delegation, reports that 60 undergraduates and doctoral students from the former Soviet Union are participating in the project. Lahat said that this is the first opportunity which the students have had to hear lectures from prominent researchers and lecturers on Jewish subjects from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar Ilan University, and the Universities of London, Moscow and Kiev.

The camp's seven-day study program focuses on the history of Eastern European Jewry, the Hassidic movements, Hebrew literature, Yiddish, Jewish-Christian relations, and other subjects. In addition to the academic studies, activities at the camp also include a practical seminar on the history of the Khazars, which included tours of archeological ruins which have been preserved in the Kharkov area.

Lahat said that besides the immense contribution which a camp of this kind makes to the study and development of Jewish culture in the former Soviet Union, the young researchers also serve as a resource for teaching Jewish identity at Jewish Agency ulpans throughout the former Soviet Union.

The Kharkov summer camp was preceded by a similar camp held two weeks ago in St. Petersburg. Both camps were held following the International Youth Convention on Jewish studies, in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the month. Participants in both camps included 180 doctoral students and young researchers from all over the former Soviet Union, including students from the Jewish University of Moscow and the Jewish University of St. Petersburg, as well as the Solomon University in Kiev and Kharkov.

Participation in the Youth Convention and one of the camps is a compulsory stage in the selection procedure for the "Ashnav 2001" educational program, in which the young researchers come to study in Israel. The Ashnav program is financed by the Jewish Agency, the JDC and the Hebrew University, and it enables outstanding Jewish studies undergraduates and doctoral students to specialize in the area of their research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Last week the Jewish Agency dedicated a new aliyah center in Odessa, Ukraine. The center will bring together under one roof all the Jewish Agency's aliyah activities in Odessa. These include ulpans to teach Hebrew and Jewish identity, aliyah advisors, clubs and groups that prepare potential olim for their arrival in Israel.

The dedication ceremony was attended by a number of officials: Arye Azoulay, chairman of the Jewish Agency's immigration and absorption committee; Eli Yitzhaki, head of the Jewish Agency Delegation in Ukraine; Israel Rashel, head of the Agency's Odessa Delegation; Avraham Wolf, Rabbi of Odessa's Chabad community; Boris Markovsky, chairman of Odessa's Reform community, and others.

"The new center is a milestone in the reorganization of Jewish Agency activity in the former Soviet Union against the background of the expanded program to strengthen Jewish identity," said Arye Azoulay. "Odessa is the cradle of the Zionist movement and Jewish Agency activity in this city should therefore not be viewed in the context of contemporary Israel, but in relation to the history of the Zionist movement."

Israel Rashel said that the center is just a short walk from the very locations at which Zeev Jabotinsky, Leon Pinsker, Chaim Nachman Bialik and Ahad Ha'am were active at the beginning of the century.

Odessa is a port located in southern Ukraine on the shores of the Black Sea. According to Jewish Agency estimates, 40,000 Jews currently live in southern Ukraine, 26,000 of them in Odessa. The Jewish Agency has a regional office in the city which coordinates the activities of five local aliyah coordinators in adjacent towns.

Some 900 Jews from the area learn Hebrew at Jewish Agency ulpans and more than 3,000 participate in a program to strengthen Jewish identity. During the first half of the year 2000, about 1,200 new immigrants from the Odessa region arrived in Israel.

In addition to the Jewish Agency, the JDC, Israel Center, Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Reform movement and Chabad are all active in Odessa.

Ten American Jewish counselors are taking part in the Karmiel-Misgav kefiada, a three-week summer day camp in northern Israel. All of the young Americans come from Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which are matched with Karmiel-Misgav within the framework of the Jewish Agency - UJC Partnership 2000 program. The campers, 161 in all, aged nine to twelve, include 21 Arab youngsters from villages in the region.

"The kids are very warm and affectionate," said 22-year old Tina Frizman, a counselor from Baltimore. "I'd like to spend more time in Israel studying Judaism," added Tina who is a nursing major at Towson University. She came to Israel earlier this year on the Birthright program and fell in love with the country.

In total 114 kefiada volunteer counselors from 40 Jewish communities across the United States came to Israel this summer to work in 18 kefiada summer day camps in which 1,700 Israeli elementary schoolchildren participated. Instituted five years ago by Partnership 2000, these summer day camps aim to give Israeli children, many of them from disadvantaged backgrounds, fun while also offering them a meaningful educational experience, with the main emphasis on teaching them English. At the same time, the counselors from overseas benefit from an unforgettable hands-on Israel experience and get to meet Israelis from all walks of life.

"It worked out excellently. They got along very well -- they eat together, hike together, and become friends." This was how Yoav Barabi described the effort to integrate children of the South Lebanese Army soldiers with Israeli youngsters their age. Barabi is the IDF coordinator for the soldiers of the South Lebanese Army now in Tiberias. This week, twenty of the SLA youngsters, age 10-12, finished a two-week session of summer camp sponsored by the community center in Tiberias. Forty more youngsters will start a new session next week.

Some 200 Lebanese children are currently residing with their families in several hotels in Tiberias. Thanks to the initiative of Arieh Tzilik, the Jewish Agency regional manager in the Sovev Kinneret region -- which is partnered with Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Tulsa in Partnership 2000 -- the children have been able to get a break from the uncertainty and fear they have known since their families were forced to flee South Lebanon.

Tzilik met the soldiers, who had recently been at a song-fest to promote peace organized by the Women's Leadership Forum of the Lake Kinneret Region on July 4th. Not only did the children leave friends, toys, and pets behind but they suffer from a lack of structure in their lives and great anxiety over their future, said Tzilik. After hearing about the plight of their children, Tzilik approached Prosper Dadia, the director of the community center in Tiberias' distressed Shikun Dalet neighborhood, to accept the SLA children into the camp programs. The program was covered by a donation from the United Jewish Communities of North America.

At the same time, Toby Hurewitz, a teacher at the Bnei Emunah religious school in Tulsa had approached Tzilik to do volunteer work. She had come to Israel to take part in the "Mifgash" conference for educators held in the Sovev Tiberias region for members of the partnership. Through the Jewish Agency emissary in Tulsa, Yehuda Katz, Hurewitz had made arrangements to stay in Tiberias after the conference was over to volunteer: "I wanted to live and work with Israelis," she said. "I didn't want to be isolated in a hotel. I was willing to do anything.

Tziklik quickly made a match and arranged for her to teach the children English. With a budget of $25 Tzilik gave her, she bought a ball, 20 notebooks, and a bag of candy. She would pass the ball around, and give instructions in English. She taught songs, and played games, like "Simon Says".

"I don't know how much English they learned - although I think they did. My priority was that they should have fun. They got to play with the ball, got a piece of candy, had a chance to act silly.

For an hour a day they were happy - for an hour they were able to be kids."

Twenty teachers from eight Jewish schools in Argentina arrived in Israel last week for Jewish Agency seminars to train them for the second stage of an Educational Excellence Project. A Jewish Studies curriculum and materials are being developed, which will form the basis for a study materials bank.

The project, now in its fourth year, was initiated by Jewish Agency for Israel, in partnership with the Center for Educational Technology - a public association that specializes in the development of state-of-the-art educational aids, programs and materials in Israel - and other factors, in order to incorporate innovative teaching methods and techniques in the Jewish educational system. The project is also funded by the L.A. Pincus Fund for Jewish Education in the Diaspora.

Some 40% of Jewish schoolchildren study at the highly developed network of day schools developed by the Argentinean Jewish community. The Jewish Agency's Education Department, assists with a variety of Jewish Zionist formal and informal educational projects operated by the Jewish community in Argentina.

According to Jewish Agency estimates there are some 250,000 Jewish residents of Argentina. Approximately 185,000 Jews live in the capital, Buenos Aires. Most of them immigrated from Europe at the beginning of this century and after the Holocaust. About 15% are Sephardim, descendants of immigrants from Syria, Turkey, and North Africa.

Economic crises in recent years - and specifically, the collapse of two Jewish banks that supported the community's Jewish-Zionist activities -- combined with the absence of strong communal leadership and disintegration of community solidarity, resulted in the depletion of the community's financial resources and resultant problems in the educational system, and growing numbers of needy families. The economic situation has been particularly difficult for the small Jewish communities in the outlying regions, which are already on the verge of collapse due to intermarriage, and migration to the cities.

The collapse of the banks further exacerbated the anti-Semitism that has plagued Argentina - in large measure due to the significant influence in government and academic circles of the hundreds, if not thousands, of Nazi war criminals that found a haven in that country after World War II. The anti-Semitism has found expression in the desecration of gravestones in Jewish cemeteries, defacement of synagogues, graffiti in public places in Buenos Aires and outlying cities as well anti-Semitic articles in the newspapers and threats on the lives of Jews. This intensified the sense of trauma resulting from the terrorist attacks at the Israeli embassy in 1992 and at "AMIA" community building in Buenos Aires in 1994.

Following the collapse of the Jewish educational system in Argentina, the Jewish Agency remains practically the only body helping the community overcome its problems. Last week about 400 teachers from throughout Argentina completed their annual in-service training program in Buenos Aires, given by the Jewish Agency's Education Department. The Jewish Agency gives the Jewish educational system in Argentina some $1,800,000 annually. This money supports in-service training for teachers and counselors, training in Israel for Jewish teachers and principals, summer camps, educational activities in outlying towns and many other activities.

A new syllabus for learning Hebrew, prepared by the Jewish Agency delegation in the UK with the help of Israeli experts, will help pupils at Jewish schools in the UK take the state GCSE (10^th Grade) and "A" Level (12^th Grade) exams in the subject of Hebrew.

Dubi Bergman, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in England, reports that the syllabus, which complies with Britain's Ministry of Education requirements, will be offered from the coming academic year.

According to Bergman, this is the first time that a uniform syllabus in Hebrew has been prepared for all high-school pupils in the UK. The syllabus includes Hebrew language text books which have been prepared by Israeli experts, in conjunction with teachers in the UK, and teacher-training programs in the Jewish schools for teaching the language according to the new syllabus. Bergman says that all 1,100 copies of the text book published so far have already been sold.

25,000 pupils are enrolled in the Jewish education system in the UK, from kindergarten through 12^th grade. Jewish Agency activities to increase the knowledge of spoken Hebrew in the UK will be implemented by Hebrew language teachers at Jewish schools, and include writing and assistance in preparing the syllabus, teacher training for teaching Hebrew, the organization of refresher courses for teachers, and Hebrew ulpans for adults.

Bergman added that 16 principals of Jewish Studies departments in the UK are currently participating in a special course in Israel run by the Jewish Agency and Bar Ilan University. According to Bergman, another 1500 Jewish youngsters are currently in Israel participating in the Jewish Agency's "Israel Experience" programs.

A women's delegation from Philadelphia this week visited Netivot-Azata, Philadelphia's partner within the Jewish Agency - UJC Partnership 2000 framework. The visitors included Sharon Levin, Co-chair of the Federation's Women's Division and Susan Bauchner, the Division's Director. Focusing on the issue of family violence and children- at-risk, the delegation met with social workers from the Netivot-Azata region and discussed ways of dealing with the phenomena. They also visited an innovative therapeutic petting zoo on nearby Kibbutz Sa'ad, for which the Philadelphia Federation provides partial funding.

The trip follows several prior visits. Just a year ago, Levin and Bauchner, together with Suzie Cutler, visited the region. And this past spring, Israelis Dina Saban, Shoshana Alon and Miri Dadon went to Philadelphia where they developed positive connections with Jewish women from the community, especially their hosts.

Commenting on how much the reciprocal visits enhanced the connection between the women from the two communities, Susan Bauchner noted that there are many parallels with the work done in Israel and with the Jewish Family and Children's Service in Philadelphia.

The Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in Israel Association held its founding session a few weeks ago at the American Cultural Center in Jerusalem. This is the first Peace Corps alumni chapter to be established outside the United States.

Richard Roth, a former volunteer in Upper Volta and today the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, shared with the new group how important his Peace Corps experience had been in launching his career with the US Foreign Service. Roth, a senior Jewish diplomat, is now completing four years of service. Prior to his posting in Israel, he served as the head of Bureau for Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict in the US State Department in Washington, D.C.

Over 40 Peace Corps volunteers now living in Israel have joined the alumni chapter so far. At the first meeting a number of goals were agreed upon: support and advocacy for domestic and international humanitarian aid; the promotion of peace and friendship in the region; and the encouragement of national service opportunities.

The history of the US Peace Corps is the story of over 155,000 people who have served as volunteers since 1961 in 130 countries. It is still thriving today, with more than 7,000 volunteers currently serving in 77 countries.

Greenville, Mississippi's Hebrew Union Congregation marked its 120^th anniversary last month with a special ceremony. Mississippi's Department of Archives and History dedicated a historical marker outside the building, which was built in 1906. Greenville Mayor Paul Artman, who was present at the ceremony, commented on the Jewish community's service to the city and its heritage.

When Greenville was incorporated in 1870, there were already 25 Jewish families in the town of 890. In 1871, the Zedek Israel Congregation brought in a rabbi from neighboring Memphis, Tennessee to officiate at services. In 1880 the Hebrew Union congregation was incorporated and in 1903, the congregation joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

Once the state's largest synagogue, today the congregation has just over 70 families.

The official ceremony marking 96 years since the death of Theodore (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl took place at Mt. Herzl on the 20^th Tamuz (23^rd July). Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor laid a wreath on the Zionist visionary's grave in the name of the Zionist Movement. Acting President and Knesset speaker, Avraham Burg, Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister David Levy participated in the ceremony.

Next Tuesday, 29^th Tamuz (August 1^st) there will be an official ceremony marking 60 years since the death of Zeev Jabotinsky, founder of the Zionist Revisionist Movement. Both ceremonies are being organized by the Israel Government Information Center and the IDF.

Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency Executive, Sallai Meridor lays a wreath at Herzl's Tomb
photo credit: Joe Malcolm

Palestinian police and the IDF are on alert due to the end of the peace talks. Arafat rejected an American proposal for a far-reaching compromise on Jerusalem, that included a division of sovereignty in the capital, thus bringing the negotiations at Camp David to an end without agreement: "The summit was held on the basis of a prior understanding that in the absence of agreement, the draft proposals, ideas and proposals raised at the talks are invalid and would not be used as the opening position when talks are renewed," emphasized Prime Minister Barak on his return to Israel. Nevertheless, observers believe that progress on the negotiations will not be erased.

US Peace Negotiator, Dennis Ross is expected to arrive in the Middle East soon to help renew negotiations.

Israel faces two tough political tests in the coming week: a no-confidence motion to disband the Knesset to be discussed on Monday, and presidential elections - Shimon Peres against Moshe Katsav.

UNIFIL forces yesterday deployed along the Israel-Lebanon border, immediately followed by a unit of the Lebanese army and internal security forces. UN Secretary Kofi Annan informed the Security Council of this in writing.

Three Jewish youngsters were arrested in Jerusalem charged with arson of the Ya'ar Ramot Conservative Synagogue.

Israel's tennis team beat the Bulgarians in Sofia 3:2 in the Davis Cup.

More than 50,000 visitors attended the three-day Klezmer Festival held last week in Safed, the city of mysticism and art. The festival was founded in 1988 to recreate and inject new life into Jewish soul music. The Jewish Agency was one of the sponsors of this years event.

Visitors included people of all ages, from all ethnic groups, new immigrants and veteran Israelis as well as tourists, kibbutzniks and urban dwellers. Performances were held throughout Safed - in its courtyards, the Artists' Quarter, auditoriums, and the Old City.

Zilberman, a haredi accordianist, who was accompanied by her son, Dov on the clarinet, commented that she had not seen such a joyous celebration of unity in a long time "The klezmer music of Safed is unique," she states emphatically. Her family came to Safed from Russia early in the 19th century. She plays the tunes she heard from her grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Leib Zilberman, who was chief rabbi of Safed from 1918 to 1948. Already at age six, she was sitting at the piano picking out tunes.

Although Zilberman was not the only haredi woman to perform, the others played only for all women audiences. The mother and son duo played in a small amphitheatre call "the enchanted garden." She notes that Safed is very special because, despite the fact that it is very spiritual, it is very open-minded. For eight generations, her family mingled with the whole community. In fact, Druze musicians played at traditional Lag B'Omer celebrations in Meron. "I believe it's a great mitzvah to make all people happy," she says.

The Zilbermans have recently released their fifth cassette, part of a series called "Safed Shall Suddenly be Rebuilt." They have also put out two CDs. A variety of influences can be heard in their music including Caucasian melodies from the mountains of Georgia, Romanian gypsy melodies, and Druze and Arab tunes.

A new program of solidarity between Jews and Druze in Israel - "Brit Haim"(Covenant of Life) - was inaugurated at the beginning of the week at the Jewish Agency's Kiryat Moriah Educational Campus in Jerusalem. The program is designed to strengthen unity between Jews and Druze in order to help integrate them into all areas of life in Israel. A covenant of blood has already been established with the Druze who have served in the IDF in all of Israel's battles since the establishment of the State.

A hundred members of the Druze community in Israel attended the opening ceremony. The Druze community was represented by Sheikh Ali Fallach, President of the Druze Zionist Council, and Yussef Nasser-A-Din, Chairman of the Druze Zionist Movement.

The chairman of the Druze Zionist Movement attacked representatives of the Druze community who had traveled to Syria to pay their condolences following the death of President Assad as part of the Israeli Arab delegation rather than as separate representatives of the Druze community. Nasser-A-Din also said that during a visit to Jordan he had been surprised to find that the Druze living in Jordan have adopted a fabricated Moslem identity, similar to that of the Marranos in Spain.

Yona Bezaleli, Chairman of the Covenant of Life program and Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Workers Union, as well as Shimon Sheetrit, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem; Nissan Harpaz, Chairman of the Zionist Council; and Moshe Ben-Atar, Director of the Zionist Council all welcomed the representatives of the Druze community.

The program opened in the morning with a tour of Jerusalem by the Druze community representatives, and ended with their participation in the official memorial ceremony to mark the death of Herzl, at his grave on Mt. Herzl.

Members of Druze Zionist Council at Kiryat Moriah second from left Yona Bezaleli, Chairman of the Jewish Agency Workers Union
photo credit: Joe Malcolm

If you are fed up with eating meat, sulbeta is a good substitute. This is a traditional Druze food based on natural, nutritious ingredients, and is extremely palatable and suitable for the entire family. A little olive oil adds a pleasant taste. Highly recommended for vegetarians and natural food lovers.

Ingredients: (for 15-20 portions)

2 cups olive oil
9 oz cooked chickpeas
7 oz zucchini, cubed
9 oz chopped onions
1 lb. red tomatoes, cubed
1 Tbs. salt
1 Tbs. sweet paprika
1 Tbs. cinammon
1 Tbs. black pepper
1 lb. coarse burgul (wheat groats)
2 quarts boiling water

Method:

• Brown the onion in two cups of olive oil in a large pan, add the zucchini and continue to fry until it is golden; add the cooked chickpeas and fry for a further 20 minutes.

• Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to cook until they are soft.

• Add salt, cinnamon, black pepper and paprika.

• Add boiled water and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes.

• Add the burgul, cover and cook for a further 15 minutes.

• Serve hot!

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!